Autumn Flowers Poem 秋草の歌 | Mokuan Shōtō 木庵性瑫 | 1611-1684

Mokuan Shōtō is one of the prominent Chinese monks who fled to Japan during the turmoil following the end of the Ming Dynasty in China (1644) and were received with admiration in Kyoto, acting as cultural ambassadors. In 1661, they built Manpukuji Temple in Uji, near Kyoto, and founded the Ōbaku school of Buddhism.

The calligraphy in this image is Chinese, and the content also has a more mainland feel. The poem reflects that typical Chinese scholarly mindset: one enjoys being in a pavilion far from the hustle and bustle of the cities, delights in nature and the landscape, and indulges in the pleasures of drinking (music lovers will recognize this mood from Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde"). The calligraphed text is: 万事人間都撥置  不知花下且䘖盃, in modern Japanese Translation: 何事も人間はすべて捨てて顧みない盃を咥えながら花の下にいる事を知らない.

I put all worldly things aside; I don't think about them and only drink among flowers.

One must understand such a poem by a priest who suffered much as a refugee and was able to escape to Japan in this way: He is happy to be able to enjoy a Japanese autumn in peace and feels comfortable in his retreat out in nature.

The fact that the image is related to autumn is indicated by the painted flower, an aster (aster amellus), which in China and Japan is considered a symbol of constancy and purity and is specifically known as an autumn flower. The insect belongs to the grasshopper family (acrididae), which is very common in warm regions of Asia.

The balance between the two lines of poetry next to the signature line (with carefully placed stamps underneath) and the reed-like grass, which as if protectively sheltering and surrounding the autumn flower, radiates a harmony that the Chinese priest in Kyoto must have deeply felt.